Research projects

Epigenetic alterations contribute to the onset and progression of tumours. Recently, it has been established that non-coding RNAs are key elements involved in the biology of healthy cells and the development of several diseases, including cancer. The best studied non-coding RNAs are microRNAs, but the other non-coding RNAs that have emerged with great interest are T-UCRs ("ultraconserved regions"). This project seeks to determine whether T-UCRs are regulated epigenetically, both at the level of DNA methylation and histone modification, and by miRNAs, items that are altered in cancer and whose degree of contribution to the human tumerogenesis process is still a matter to be resolved. Research in this sense offers the opportunity to discover new mechanisms and signal transduction pathways altered in cancer, as well as the identification of new molecular markers and new therapeutic agents.